Days ago we pointed out a report that dove into the unique risks of placing lithium ion batteries all over the world (including in electric vehicles).

And just over the last two months, we’ve written not only about how much driving needs to be done in EVs to make them better for the environment than internal combustion engine vehicles, but we’ve also noted that EV carbon footprints aren’t necessarily as better than ICE vehicles as many people think.

Now, the hits keep on coming: we’re finding out that EVs cost more to service than internal combustion engine vehicles. Like the reduction in environmental harm that we noted last month, however, the gap narrows over time.

Automotive News published a report on Thursday of this week noting that EVs were 2.3 times more expensive to service than ICE vehicles after three months of ownership. Analytics firm We Predict compiled the data by looking at roughly 19 million vehicles between the 2016 and 2021 model years.

That figure drops to just 1.6 times more expensive after one year, the report noted, as a result of a 77% drop in maintenance costs and a decline in repair costs. The data showed that service techs spend about twice as much time diagnosing problems with EVs as they do with regular gas vehicles. They spend about 1.5 times longer fixing them and the labor rate for repairs was about 1.3 times higher.

“It’s an industry in launch. This is the launch factor you’re seeing,” said Renee Stephens, a vice president at We Predict.

EVs had a high rate of wheel problems, the study found. This was attributed to wear and tear associated with carrying bulky batteries.

Ford’s Mach-E scored the best marks in terms of cost of service. After 3 months of ownership, the Mach-E service costs were $93, compared to $366 for the Audi E-Tron and $667 for the Porsche Taycan.

OilPrice, by ZeroHedge, August 10, 2021